March2006

March 1 Windy and warm today! Looks to be another great day in Oklahoma though! Sounds like I will be heading to Claremore today to pick up feed as the message didn't get delivered the other day to Allen. We are going to run short of feed before the truck gets here. Grocery shopping for the cattle! ha
Check out this web site www.elitefarmer.com
Here is a nice verse sent to me the other day that fit right in...

Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success. You all have a great day and come back soon! :):)

March 2-6 A busy week of several projects and babies! Lots of babies! The pasture has little black dots covering it now! We have had several folks drop by. Donnie Shores came and picked up his cattle on Thursday. Erica came by and picked up her cattle that we flushed and transferred embryos into. Kevin, Karla, Connie, Lilly and Logan came by to get his Hereford cow that Abbie A .I. bred for them on Saturday. Terry, Susan, Chris and James came for coffee on Sunday morning. So as usual it was trucks in and trucks out of the place! A couple of feed trucks came by too! ha I finished up some of my many paint and wall paper projects.. Ran out of paper for the middle bath so going to pick up another roll today! Weigh in at noon! ha Wish me luck! So far so good! We are going to supply 10 head for the Mayes County Livestock Challenge the end of the month.. So we need to be selecting breeding heifers for that judging contest. Also the Mayes County Cattlemen will be meeting that evening so we will get to show off some of our cattle. Then the end April we are planning a "TRAIL RIDE" for the Roger's County 4-H Club.. to benefit the St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Maybe by then I can have the place looking good and have a couple of broke horses! ha Maybe with some rain it will finally green up! They are predicting rain this week and next weekend.. We can only hope and pray! By the way my new YA YA Sisterhood name is "Duchess Bovina" .. from my trail ride friends, Cathy with a C and Kathy with a K.. I am going to have to look up their ya ya sisterhood names..ha What a pair of crazy gals! To really live life you have to surround yourself with people who are happy to be alive! ha Those two are perfect friends for me! ha You all have a great week! Happy Birthday Rex and Brenna Jo! We love and miss ya! :) If you all get bored drop by for some excitement! I am sure I can find a paint brush or a rake! There are calves to tag and weigh again! We had two last night from a couple of heifers.. Momma's and babies doing fine!

Abbie and Donnie Shores our new partner in TLCC Hardy.

TLC Grace Ann (Reg; angus heifer with milk all over her face!)

K3419 and her pretty Bud heifer calf named Bella

March 7-8 The past couple of days we have been host and hostess to daughter Whitney, Ruby and Whitney's mom Janis. We spoiled little Ruby as much as we could too! She is crawling now and it was fun watching her chase Hally around the kitchen. She is a real cutie and doing so many fun things now! It was hard to see them all leave! I am sure not many of you other wives have ever entertained the ex wife much! ha We get along very well actually! Since we have so much in common! ha We share some pretty cute grandchildren! ha
We have storm warnings out for tonight. Let's hope that we get some much needed rain to go with it! We don't need tornado's or a hail storm either. The pear trees are blooming so it is starting to look some what like Spring is coming! The wind did blow today like a Banji Warrior! The glass table with the rolled up umbrella from the back porch went rolling down the drive once! We are still calving and I need to go check the heavies before dark as Abbie dear is under the weather! Must be the stress of so many women under the roof for two days! ha You got to love life and unique situations that happen in this household! ha
Thanks Scott Prill for your call today! Enjoyed visiting with you and hearing that you all got some rain and a little snow in Nebraska! Also heard from the Bruner's in the Ok City area and they are enjoying their cattle and want some more just like them. Also heard from a Basketball coach in Harrison AR that their steer suddenly died so they are looking for a replacement. Heard from the folks in Mississippi that are still interested in the Massey bull. I think we have sold him but waiting on a check to be sure!
I ran to Pryor early this morning to pick up some supplies and then came home and I went "hay shopping!" We are down to one bale of hay and no green grass in sight! We had thought we were going to get some alfalfa from Kansas but that deal fell through! Sounds like our good neighbor friend Chell Propp has some we can buy and not cost an arm and leg to haul here.. One deal in Kansas wanted $95 a ton for dry cow quality hay and it would have cost around $1000 a truck load! Wow hay is worth gold right now in Oklahoma and even worse in Texas! Have heard that some folks are selling their cattle, as they can't afford the even higher prices there. The horse people are paying $12.00 a small square bale of hay! Glad our hay burners are easy keepers! ha It's thundering! Cross your fingers! And pray for RAIN!

March 9-10 In all the commotion of being hostess for a couple of days! I forgot a very special little grandson's birthday! Sorry Phillip Joseph Plott! Gosh you should still be that little guy that sat on the folding chair not that many years ago and asked " How did he get in there?" When we pulled a baby calf into the world! You are such a good boy and so smart too! We hope you had a very special day and will have many more that this old nanna and papa won't forget! We love you Phillip!
We have folks coming from Morton, Mississippi this afternoon! They are driving 10 hours to get here! Looking forward to meeting those fine folks! Our rain was short lived but at least we got a little. I finished wall papering the middle bath, finished the utility room paint job and started a new paint job in the hall way yesterday. It's a buttery color that really brightens up the dreary old hall way! Abbie's comment was that I must like the color of calf scours! ha Men! No this looks like milk scours! ha I did get up the HOME SWEET HOME border about half way around and decided that I needed a helping hand to finish the next 15 feet! ha Good golly molly! I had it all over the place! It will be a wonder if it sticks up as it was on the carpet and wrapped around my arm and head most of the time. Well this Martha Stewart is about done with decorating the inside! It's time to get out and work with the heifers tied in the barn and catch Tee to trim his tail that is dragging on the ground! Maybe just maybe this fat lady can saddle him up and go for a ride today too! ha The guys are hauling some hay in from over north! No wind today so it will be a good day to show cattle and ride! :) Come back soon!

March 12-14 Matt, Lilly and Xavier came by on Saturday afternoon. Abbie clipped and dehorn their cattle. Yep the beauty parlor and vet clinic was open again. We had a good visit with them! Sounds like they are busy like the rest of us! It was good seeing them!
Sunday was a relaxing day we enjoyed immensely! It was up in the high 70's all day. I had planned on riding Tee when I had a real wild idea! What do you do with an old set of bed springs and a golf cart? Good thing I didn't use the horse! ha No clue right? Well after the little bit of rain we did get it doesn't take much to break up those cow piles! So use your imagination... and see me with three dogs on my golf cart pulling a bed spring out across the pastures.. ha You would think commit her right? Don't knock it until you try it! It works and I got several pastures drug down so that it will fertilizer more than one square! I got a whole week of frustration taken out on those turds! ha I guess I get this from my Dad that always has his cow pie's drug before grass gets there! I had the golf cart pretty warmed up pretty good by dinner time so I stopped and fixed dinner and then hooked the springs up to the little red truck. I got the north pasture drug some before dark. We had a tornado warning again as the clouds came rolling in from the west! We were lucky and didn't have any set down... Some folks just south and east of us weren't so lucky! We were glad to hear that no one got hurt bad.
We had a couple of heifers calve on Monday and both came through the delivery just fine! Miss Carol one of our Reserve grand champion percentage heifers from 2004 delivered a pretty little Polled Energizer heifer. So she becomes a 3/4 Maine and 25% Braunvieh. This cross works really well and you have a very marketable female in anyone's book! Plus they will make some outstanding momma cows! Polled and Black!
We had a call from our old friend Mr. King from Bogalusa LA today and he is considering breeding his Angus cows to a Maine Anjou bull.. He wondered if we had any bulls for sale! He was surprised to see us listed in the Maine association as members. It was good visiting with him! One time he flew into Tulsa to come see us. He had left his wallet home so he had no identification. (I am surprised he got on the airplane) You couldn't do that now after 9-11. He couldn't rent a car without identification, and he had our telephone number in his wallet too so he couldn't call us! So he got a taxi from Tulsa to come clear over here! We were surprised to see a Yellow taxi driving into the ranch! Where there is a will there is a way! ha He laughingly said that the next time he would call and have us pick him up at the airport the next trip! I bet that taxi ride was higher priced than a limo ride! ha We did sell some cattle that time too! So the moral of the story? Don't go off and leave your wallet, you might have to rent a horse or a taxi!
We had another Wild Turkey calf this morning from one of the Black Icon daughters.. Wow it's sure is black and pretty! Talking about Turkey's! We have a little sign in our entry that says this! It's difficult to soar with Eagles... When you work with Turkey's! ha Abbie gave that little sign to me when I worked at the Braunvieh Association way back when! It holds true today too! ha Today I am going to attack several projects and prepare for a fast trip to OK City for the OK Youth Expo! Several of our cattle kids are showing there this week! You all have a great week! Yep I have my wallet and I am going with a TURKEY!

March 15 We have gotten some reports about the 770,000 acres burned in the panhandle of Texas. Wow and we think we have had wild fires in Oklahoma! Abbie grew up in that area around Miami and Canadian Texas. One of his college friends Leonard Keeton sent us email from some folks that survived the fire! She said that the fire caught her husband Jerry. He had gotten out to cut the fence so some calves could get out and when he got back in the pick up it caught him and the calves. They all burned and the fire went right over the top of the pickup , no paint left on it, but the angels took care of him. His eyes are red and swollen but he lived to tell about it. She says, Please pray for everyone. All our neighbors except us lost all they had! We think we have at least 60% of our cattle left alive. The fire came right up to their back door. Please keep these fine folks in your prayers!
We made it over to OK Youth Expo, late yesterday afternoon! In time to watch Rox show her Herefords and win a reserve grand in Division. Megan showed Socks to a 4th place in the low percentage Simmentals in a big class of 14. Reighly was 6th in a very tough class of Commercial heifers, along with Cody and Megan in the same class. The PETA and EPA had been there giving the whole folks and facility lots of problems! So the whole show was pretty up set. We didn't see anything but I guess the day before it was real turmoil! We took Leona out for supper and made it home about midnight to another calf! Sharon had a pretty little About Time baby heifer. K2073 had an ET calf in the middle of the night! She is the one that bunted Abbie around pretty good last year. I am really surprised he kept her! ha I think she gets one last chance to raise this ET calf! It's another heifer! This year we have been neck and neck with bulls and heifers! Usually we run long on bull calves! But the year isn't over yet! ha
Please keep your prayers going for all the folks that have had so many tragedies in the past few days in Texas and our neighbors to the south and east who got hit very hard by tornados!

March 16-19 We had a surprise from the north and the south! Shareen, Dalton, Dalya, Shawna, Kyleigh and Mom called early Thursday morning and said that they were on their way from Nebraska! So I did some scrambling around to prepare for a house full! They got here that evening. Diann, Jeffrey and Logan made it in late Saturday morning! So we had a grand old time with the grandbabies! We went to the Chuck Wagon last night with the crew for supper. I was tired of cooking! ha Kyleigh and I had a fun time working with the heifers and we also saddled up Tee and rode for a little while! They all left this morning and afternoon and it's so quiet around here now that it's almost scary! ha We received a much needed rain all day yesterday and most of today! It is soaking in too! Up north in Nebraska they got snow! Wade called and said that it was a white out! We received mail and pictures from a class mate of Abbie's that lost several cattle and all their hay and grass in the prairie fires in the panhandle of Texas! The pictures are so sad! Cattle with burned and singed hair, and piles of dead cattle! The problems are going to be many with the survivors! The feet and udders of several will present several other problems. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those fine folks there! I can't even imagine what horror they are all going through now that they survived. Last report said over a million acres burned and some fires are still smoldering! We hope they received this rain! You are never so bad off that you couldn't be worse! So count your blessings!

March 20-22 It's chilly here since the rains! It comes with the moisture! We have had more new babies for the past couple of days! Made up ten more tags.. we are getting more bulls now. But several of our show heifers have had babies ! Amanda's heifer Darlin Kate had a pretty little Ali heifer. The heifer Allison had Fancy Future had a heifer calf from OSU Ransom.. It is very rewarding to finally have those special heifers we kept now raising a calf. Some of the Heat Wave ET calves have been bigger than need be but so far only lost one due to being backwards. Wish we could save them all but guess we are lucky to be blessed with the one's that we do get with out problems. Abbie just came in and we had six more new babies in about an hour and half! Mass delivery! Jillian is calving at the moment and has been trying to claim another baby all day. She wants a baby so bad she will take anything! ha I can't wait to see the pastures full of calves!
We picked up the new aluminum stock trailer today! That was fun to pick up something new and shiny! Can you imagine a diamond that big that cost that much? Good thing I'm not into diamonds that would make me poor to carry around! ha As much as that thing costs it should have a motor in it too in stead of having to pull it! ha So we are now trying to decide what to put on it for our traveling bill board! When we went to MS a couple months ago we had all kinds of calls from our visit there.. with the little red trailer that has our name and web site on it! It doesn't hurt to advertise your operation! You have to get right down creative sometimes to win customers... I jokingly told Abbie that we need to put one of our show heifers standing all pretty with a bubble saying... "If it doesn't moo... it don't matter." A catchy phrase that was going around at Junior Nationals in Texas one year...on all the tee shirts!
Friend Karen sent me pictures of her daughters house in Arkansas that blew away around them a couple weeks ago! It's unbelievable that they walked away in their bare feet from the mess that fell down around them. They had crawled into the bath tub and it literally saved them... You have got to wonder why it left the dishes in the cupboards in tact and demolished everything else! We hope Megan, Daniel and Wyatt can find a new home soon! See what mother nature can release when it feels like it below!
We heard from Sherry today in panhandle of Texas where the fires destroyed so much!

Yes, we got a blessed 1 1/2 of rain and now it looks like we'll get snow. The green grass is already coming on.

There is donated hay and cattle feed stacked around. We had 11 babies without mommas and the dairy donated milk, medication, etc. for them.

We have received monetary gifts from the Meth. church at Plainview where Lewis Holland is pastor and have some coming from the congregation at Ft. Sumner where our Anna's Wes pastors. We're using it to replace shades and curtains that were too black to clean, meals for everyone, and gifts for friends who lost all.

Another thing I would ask all of you to do is help your neighbors, even when they are people you do not know, but are having problems of any kind.

"IF EVERYONE LIT JUST ONE LITTLE CANDLE, WHAT A BRIGHT WORLD THIS WOULD BE!"

We Love You All, Sherry
Donations can be sent to Texas Farm Bureau Office at 254-751-2246 or go to their web site: www.txfb.org

The Texas Cattle Feeders Association is coordinating a hay donation. Contact Burt Rutherford at 806-358-3681

The Texas Dept of Agriculture Hay Hotline can be accessed at 877-429-1998 or web site www.agri.state.tx.us